The Beast in the Clouds: The Roosevelt Brothers' Deadly Quest to Find the Mythical Giant Panda

The Beast in the Clouds: The Roosevelt Brothers' Deadly Quest to Find the Mythical Giant Panda

by Nathalia Holt

4.3 (431)

4.3 stars from 431 reviews

288 pages~4.8 hr readPublished by Atria BooksPublished 2025-01-01

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Last checked: Jun 24, 2026

Price history: $14.99 $14.99

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Fans of these authors will like this...

  • Jon Krakauer
  • David Grann
  • Alexandra Fuller

Fans of these books will like this...

  • Into Thin Air
  • Killers of the Flower Moon
  • The Worst Journey in the World

Perfect for you if...

  • You love true adventure stories where the stakes are survival, not just ego, and where the outcome genuinely mattered to science.
  • You're drawn to stories about the Roosevelt family and America's era of exploration, especially when they reveal lesser-known chapters.
  • You appreciate narrative nonfiction that reads like a thriller but also teaches you something real about history and nature.

Maybe not for you if...

  • You're looking for a cosy animal story. This is a gruelling high-altitude expedition with frostbite, robbery, and real danger.
  • You want a deep political biography of the Roosevelts. This focuses on one specific 1929 expedition, not their full lives.
  • You prefer lightweight reads. This is meticulously researched and occasionally harrowing, requiring real engagement.

About this book

The true story of Theodore Roosevelt's two eldest sons and their 1929 expedition to the Himalayas to prove the panda bear's existence to the Western world. By 1928, many expeditions had searched the Himalayas for the panda, which some believed was mythical. That year, Roosevelt's sons and a team of scientists and naturalists undertook their own dangerous journey through a landscape of treacherous glacier crossings, thin air, and potential attacks. The expedition faced blizzards, robbers, illness, and food shortages that tested the crew physically and emotionally. Despite these hardships, the brothers succeeded where previous explorers had failed, introducing the panda to the Western world. Their journey also documented a rapidly disappearing landscape and contributed to the emergence of conservation biology as a field.

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Free$7.50$14.99Oct '24Jun '26
$14.99$14.99

Currently on sale at $3.99 — 73% off peak. Price has dropped 1 time over the last 20 months.

Sales Rank

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#4,025#541,147#1,078,269Feb '25Dec '25Feb '26Jun '26

Currently #9,526 in the Kindle store — a top-10K bestseller. Sales have softened 146% recently.

Rating & Reviews

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3.5★4.3★5.0★Aug '25Dec '25Jan '26Jun '26RatingReviews

Currently 4.3★ from 431 reviews

Gaining approximately 36 new reviews per month. Steady word of mouth growth. Rating has remained stable at 4.3 over the tracking period.

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Free$7.50$14.99Oct '24Jun '26PredictedJun '26

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This book is currently discounted at $3.99. It typically returns to around $14.99.

Prices shown in USD from Amazon US. We continuously pull new data to improve tracking. If dates look old, it usually means there has been no significant change since the last data point.

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Nathalia Holt

1 book on Vagrant Press

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